Lê Văn Thịnh (Chinese: 黎文盛, 1038 - 1096), courtesy name Mậu Phu (茂夫), was an official in the royal court of the Lý dynasty. Ranking first in the first imperial examination of the Lý Dynasty, Lê Văn Thịnh was appointed tutor for Lý Nhân Tông and was gradually promoted to the position of chancellor of the Lý Dynasty due to his achievements, especially in the negotiation with the Song dynasty about the return of occupied land by the Song army to Annam in 1086.
Lê Văn Thịnh was charged with high treason in 1096 and was banished to the mountainous area. Today the fact about the 1096 event is still a matter of debate.
Lê Văn Thịnh he was born in 1038 at the Đông Cứu village, Gia Định district. In the second month of 1075, the emperor Lý Nhân Tông ordered the organization of the first imperial examination of the Lý Dynasty, which was also the first contest based on Confucianist education in History of Vietnam. Lê Văn Thịnh who ranked first in the examination and thus became the first first-rank laureate in history of imperial examination in Vietnam; therefore, he was sometimes dubbed "Tiến sĩ khai khoa" (The first doctorate) or "Trạng nguyên đầu tiên" (The first exemplar of the state) of Vietnam. Lê Văn Thịnh's success came from his laboriousness in learning Confucian classics while others often relied on Buddhist knowledge. After the examination, Lê Văn Thịnh was appointed to the position of tutor for the young emperor.
In the sixth month of 1086, the deputy military minister (Thị lang bộ Binh) Lê Văn Thịnh took the important mission of negotiating with the Song Dynasty about the return of a vast area of Đại Việt land which had been occupied by the Song Dynasty after the 1075 war between two countries. Because of Lê Văn Thịnh's diplomatic skill, the Song Dynasty finally agreed to give back six districts and three mountainous regions (động) which corresponded to the region of Quảng Nguyên.[8][9] For this feat, Lê Văn Thịnh was promoted to the position of chancellor of the Lý Dynasty (Thái sư). This was the second-highest position in the royal court and was only behind the emperor. Lê Văn Thịnh was one of the finest examples for a scholar who gained his promotion solely through examination and talent.